Mike Jones of the Washington Post reports that theย Redskins and impending free agent ILBย Perry Riley haveย ย held “initial negotiation talks”ย regarding a long-term contract extension. However,ย Jones’ source added that a deal “doesnโt appear imminent” at this point in time.
Jones also spoke with two “league insiders” who believeย Riley could be targeting a similar contract to the one handed out toย Dannell Ellerbe last year by the Miami Dolphins.ย
Ellerbe, 27 at the time, signed aย five-year contract worth $34.75 million which included $14 million guaranteed last year. The Ravens were hoping to retain him, but ultimately couldn’t compete with the Dolphins financially.
Riley, 25, is coming off of a season in which he talliedย 115 tackles, one interception and a fumble recovery. There is still room for growth withย Riley, but he has had some issues with stopping the run.
According to Pro Football Focus,ย Riley rates as the No. 46 inside linebacker out of 55 qualifying players with London Fletcher coming in at No. 55. Both of them were well below average in run defense, butย Riley did show at least some ability to get to the quarterback as an inside rusher.
Washington will finally have cap space to work with this offseason, but you have to wonder whether or not retaining Riley at this price tag would be the best use of their available cap space. There is still a chance that Riley’s asking price could come down a bit if he were to test the open market, but it’s hard to say for certain given that there isn’t a ton of quality inside linebackers available in free agency.
This is certainly an interesting situation to monitor if you happen to be a Redskins fan.
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hahahaha 35M
His -5.5 Pro Football Focus Rating coupled with the fact our MLB core was an embarrassment each and every game while there are NUMEROUS more attractive free agents makes me think this is a little different situation. Got to love these unnamed sources… this has as much change of happening as Kemp and Price getting traded at the Winter Meetings did…
I was honestly shocked to read this earlier today. Can’t see it happening.